Wichita--Forced to move there in the near future. I need help! (Kansas City: apartments, lease)

[kasbell4]

I am a 24 year old male. I am used to the fun lifestyle of Dallas, but I am being forced by work to move to Wichita. From everything I have seen on this site I am not the least bit excited about this prospect.

I need help:

1) Where is a good place to live that has some YOUNG people. I'm not saying young families. I mean is there ANY group of people between 20-30 who are just single and fun?

2) I'm not a hillbilly, tattooed biker. What the hell is there to do for a normal person who isn't a gang member or inbred?

Please help me. Any positive spin you can put on this so i don't feel the need to end my life instead of move to Wichita would be a plus.

Thanks

[briansgi]

You'll have no problem at all fitting in with that wonderful Texass attitude! Got to love those Texans, everything's bigger in Texas including egos!!

[buck75061]

It's not all that bad. I'm a native who moved from Wichita to Dallas and back (sick sister = long story). I've also lived in Houston and Kansas City. Wichita basically offers the same things, but on a much smaller scale. Of course, Dallas has a great nightclub scene and major league sports, so you might miss those activities. A lot of 20-something people take occasional weekend road trips to Kansas City, a larger metro area with a population of 2 million, and/or Lawrence, home to KU, which serves as our state's scaled-down version of Austin.

You can rent a loft in the Old Town district (just east of downtown) and walk to most of the cooler bars, nightclubs and restaurants in town and also a new landmark arena that will open next year. You will (in most cases) pay for that convenience, though. Delano is an up-and-coming historic area just west of downtown across the river, but not yet as active as Old Town. However, if you're looking to buy, you can find an older house there for a lot less than other desirable in-town neighborhoods like College Hill and Riverside, although the latter two do have a few inexpensive apartments. WaterWalk is a very slow work-in-progress with only some expensive loft-condos and a big-box sporting goods store. It could be cool a few years from now, though. Try looking through the links below:

Welcome to Oldtown | OldtownWichita.com
Wichita Historic Delano District | Shopping, Dinning & Entertainment
WDDC
Young professionals of Wichita
Wichita WaterWalk - Wichita Shopping and Dining, Entertainment, Office Space and Apartments - Wichita Retail Space For Lease - WaterWalk
Intrust Bank Arena, Sedgwick County, Kansas - Welcome
Wichita Chamber of Commerce > Community Central > Move to Wichita > Neighborhoods

I hope this helps. Welcome!

[kasbell4]

Originally Posted by briansgi

You'll have no problem at all fitting in with that wonderful Texass attitude! Got to love those Texans, everything's bigger in Texas including egos!!

actually, i've only been in texas for 6 months. I'm from Buffalo, NY which is also a smaller decaying city-- I left for a reason. Also, its not htat i have an ego. All the info i hear on this site is "yeah, as long as you stay away from the REALLY violent part of town you're fine... and there are some ok places to live with your family. I looks like all the fun places to live ARE the violent places.

But thanks for hte helpful advice. I like how your counter argument to my forming opinion of Wichita is telling me that its my ATTITUDE which isn't right. you didn't answer the question at all, which in my opinion IS an answer

[kasbell4]

thank you for an effective and concise advice. so Old Town seems to be the best place for young professionals to live?

[buck75061]

Yes, I would recommend Old Town. I've never been to Buffalo, but don't worry about moving to an old, decaying city because Wichita is far from that description. It's not booming like the cities in Texas, but it's been growing at a moderate pace. We are a manufacturing city with a sizable blue-collar workforce, so we're not a bunch of yuppies, but there are plenty of college-educated professionals, too.

Also, as the largest city in Kansas, keep in mind that Wichita draws a lot of people from small towns throughout the region. To them, this is the "big, scary city." We have a tradition of beating ourselves up a lot, too. Most people I've met who have moved here from cities in other regions are happy with what Wichita offers for a city this size. Crime is NOT a factor. Really. We have a couple of bad areas, but what city doesn't? Compare our town with similar-sized cities and we fare pretty well.

City of Wichita - Crime Statistics Crime Stats Main
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed

My biggest complaint about the city is its conservatism and an aging social hegemony that works especially hard to maintain a highly homogenized culture. Progressives do exist, though, especially among younger people. It can be a good place to live once you establish your own network of friends. Please seek out other opinions, but beware of the trolls.

[athfo]

The Riverside neighborhood and Delano District are two areas you will also want to check out.

[bluede78]

Kasbell4,

I too recently moved here and thought the same thing about this site and the violence here. First off, I came from St. Louis, MO... one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Wichita is no where near as dangerous as everyone on this site leads people to believe. With that said, there is a lot of "run down" areas near Wichita State University, which has the most violence in city. I would take people's advice when they say stay clear of there. Unfortunately, I am renting an apartment around that area... just trust me

As for a singles community, I would definately look into the old town area.

Good luck in your search.

[Modron]

I disagree, somewhat, with the suggestion that there's only violence in the rundown areas around Wichita State University. Increasingly, there is violence throughout Wichita. I think that because there's more violence in that area shouldn't suggest there's not violence others. And, compared to St. Louis, MO? Please, St. Louis, MO has a notoriously high crime rate; it's one of the worst in the nation. Just because Wichita doesn't compare to that doesn't mean that for us here the increase in crime we've seen isn't meaningful. Wichita is on track for 24 murders this year. That's going to seem like a lot for us, even though St Louis logs three times that many in a year. That said, bluede78, I'm glad you're here and can enjoy the lower crime rate.

Kasbell4, I agree with other advice you've gotten here: check in to Old Town and just be prepared to scale down your expectations from what you were used to in Dallas. Wichita is just smaller, and egos have nothing to do with it, except that some are more judgemental than others. (There is more to do in Dallas, duh.)

Originally Posted by bluede78

Kasbell4,

I too recently moved here and thought the same thing about this site and the violence here. First off, I came from St. Louis, MO... one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Wichita is no where near as dangerous as everyone on this site leads people to believe. With that said, there is a lot of "run down" areas near Wichita State University, which has the most violence in city. I would take people's advice when they say stay clear of there. Unfortunately, I am renting an apartment around that area... just trust me

As for a singles community, I would definately look into the old town area.

Good luck in your search.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by kasbell4

I am a 24 year old male. I am used to the fun lifestyle of Dallas, but I am being forced by work to move to Wichita. From everything I have seen on this site I am not the least bit excited about this prospect.

I need help:

1) Where is a good place to live that has some YOUNG people. I'm not saying young families. I mean is there ANY group of people between 20-30 who are just single and fun?

2) I'm not a hillbilly, tattooed biker. What the hell is there to do for a normal person who isn't a gang member or inbred?

Please help me. Any positive spin you can put on this so i don't feel the need to end my life instead of move to Wichita would be a plus.

Thanks

Why would you post a question in such an insulting way????

Wichita is nothing like Dallas, but it's not a hillbilly/inbred place either.

It's a small city. Imagine a smaller version of Fort Worth with no suburbs and that is pretty much Wichita. There are things to do there and it's not a total culture wasteland.

I couldn't live there either. It's just too small and too isolated, but to call it hillbilly and inbred is really quite ignorant.